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The alleged victim, now 16, had called 911 from Fallstaff Road on Nov. 19, 2010, to report his injuries from a beating he suffered, allegedly at the hands of Eli and Avi Werdesheim. Prosecutors played the 911 call in which the alleged victim is heard telling police he was "hit in the head by walkie talkie by two Jewish guys."

Court documents indicate the alleged victim was hit in the head with a radio, suffering a laceration to his head and a broken wrist.

The Werdesheim brothers said they acted in self-defense during their run-in with a 15-year-old boy. The incident happened as the boy was walking along Fallstaff Road in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. According to court charging documents, a car followed the boy and people got out of the car, threw the boy to the ground and told him he didn't belong there.

Attorneys delivered brief opening statements Wednesday before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Pamela White, who granted the defense's request for a bench trial on Tuesday. The statements followed with testimony from first-responders to the scene in 2010.

What was anticipated to follow didn't pan out. The state called its key witness -- the alleged victim -- to the stand, but he refused to testify and even asked the judge to drop the charges against the Werdesheims.

The alleged victim was barely audible while on the stand and was asked several times by White to raise his voice and speak into the microphone. The boy bowed his head and mumbled, wiping away tears.

"We simply can't do our jobs unless we have the ability to hear what the witness says and adequately cross-examine and note what the testimony is," a defense attorney told reporters.

In yet another courtroom twist, the defense said it noticed the alleged victim's grandfather appeared to be signaling to his grandson. The defense claimed the man was coaching the alleged victim.

When the judge asked the grandfather to leave, he went up to the alleged victim, whispering to him to speak up. That only made White furious, and the judge reprimanded the grandfather. She later allowed him to return to the courtroom, but he had to sit in the back.

"It's important to preserve the reliability of the testimony that people not give signals to witnesses or communicate with them during the testimony," a defense attorney told reporters.

The alleged victim was later called back to testify, and when he again refused, White ordered him to testify.

"I don't want to go through this -- the pressure, the whole situation. In my heart, I don't want to testify. I just want to drop the charges," the alleged victim said.

The judge excused the alleged victim from the case.

Both Werdesheim brothers have been charged with false imprisonment, assault and possession of a deadly weapon.